Symptoms And Diagnosis Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Introduction Posttraumatic stress disorder is a mental illness most commonly associated with soldiers, this is due to the fact that it is an illness triggered by immense trauma such as experiencing a war. However why does everyone that go to war or experience something traumatic not obtain posttraumatic stress? I believe that there are neurological abnormalities prior to experiencing the trauma that makes certain individuals more susceptible to obtaining posttraumatic stress. These abnormalities may be located on or near the hippocampus, amygdala, and/or the medial prefrontal cortex as those three areas of the brain all play important roles in posttraumatic stress (Bremner, 2006). To understand the primary causes of posttraumatic stress†¦show more content†¦It is not uncommon for people to experiencing symptoms of anxiety, fear, dissociation, or distress (Bremner, 2006). If the symptoms continue to get worse or last for multiple months that one may have posttraumatic stress, however if with time and care the symptoms improve then they do not have posttraumatic stress (Mayo Clinic, 2015). It is assumed that symptoms of posttraumatic stress represent the behavioural indication of stress-caused changes to the brain (Bremner, 2006). Some if not all of these symptoms may lead to the use and/or abuse of substances such as drugs and/or alcohol (Bremner, 2006) Diagnosis DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) is a term often used when discussing mental illness; this is in light of the fact that it re-categorized what illnesses fall into what category and in this case it re-evaluated the criteria to be diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. The DSM-5 re-categorized posttraumatic stress disorder from a branch under general Anxiety to the specialized category of Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders. DSM-5 states that someone is suffering from depression if â€Å"the person was exposed to one or more of the following events: death or threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violation† (Calhoun et al., 2012). As well the individual must be experiencing intrusive symptoms such as random or relevant